Favorite Beater Guns & Why?

Quote:Not sure what defines a "beater gun".
Exactly and why would one cause one of their guns to become a "beater gun"?
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I define a beater gun as one you shoot more often than the rest of your guns, I should have clarified this.
 
My Springfield National Match 1911A1 .45 ACP. Bought it new, over 25 years ago, can't begin to count the number of rounds through it of all kinds. It will even chamber an empty .45 ACP casing, but will always lock open on the last round.

The best group I've ever shot with it is 5 rounds in 3 inches at 70 meters. I think the pistol is STILL capable of it, but not sure about the OWNER.

It won't cycle the Bull's Eye competition-level target loads (3.5/Bull's Eye/185 SWC), but will faithfully feed 4.0/B'Eye/200 SWC days on end, even when embarrassingly dirty. It's been getting 4.6/Red Dot/225 TC for the last few years and shoots better w/this load than its owner can.

The other semi-auto "beater" is a Cz52 in 7.62x25. Shoots 1.5" 5-shot groups at 50 yards with good ammo from a bench, slightly larger with soviet-bloc ammo, digests every thing, clean or dirty. It's anchored the odd cottontail or squirrel without incident, and the FMJ projectiles don't wreck what little meat is on them. Its only limitations in the field are its issue sights and its owner's eyes.
Reliably clangs 6" diameter steel gongs with a center-on hold, which cannot be said of my 1911A1 (requires front sight at 12 o'clock).
I need to start handloading for it, soon.
 
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I define a beater gun as one you shoot more often than the rest of your guns, I should have clarified this
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Okay, you started the thread AND you clarified this from your view.

I can not and will not accept that view. I have NEVER heard anyone even hint as the above as any manner of a definition for the much used term "beater."
I am not trying to change your mind, of course. I have no reason or care to do that. However, I will enjoy adding my take for my favorite "beater" guns, which most certainly mean something very much on the order of:
A beater gun is one that has no collectability and you don't care if it gets another scratch or ding on it or lose more finish, but it still shoots well.
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The first one of mine that comes to mind is a re-import Smith & Wesson Model 39-2 that I got about 10 weeks ago. Three of us went in together and bought three and although the idea and plan was put together by me, my buddy had the free time and the ready credit card to execute the deal, so I gave him first pick of the litter. And then my other buddy is still being groomed as a hardcore, longtime, professional gundood (it's an industry term) and as such, I let him have second crack and I took the third leftover pistol.

As it turned out, I got the best of the litter. None of us paid a lot of money for these VERY well used, carried, dinged, dented, dirty and worn classic S&W pistols, but mine is the best of the three. First guy's pistol is missing the rear sight windage screw. Second guy's entire rear sight is not tight in it's place. All three pistols run 100% without fail but those guys can't seriously test them on paper (due to the rear sight) and I have run mine and it's just a dirty old VERY used gem. I LOVE it. I have a nearly mint 39-2 that I snagged a few years ago (wish I had the box!) and now, I see no good reason to shoot it because my beater 39-2 just loves to shoot and it eats all I can feed it. Admittedly, I have only 294 rounds through it since I got it, but it's only made it to the range three times in the short time I've had it.

One of these days I'll get a couple good pictures of it for when someone starts one of those "show pics of your hard-use, well-worn guns!" and it will fit right in. The seller was told by the importer that they were in service use in Israel, police most likely. They have no organization markings but the importer was nice enough to stamp their hideous (required) marking on the bottom of the frame dust cover.

There is something really inspiring with owning and running a gun that has seen some real life history, even if the pistol can't tell you what that history is. The joy I'm getting from this pistol very much outweighs the reasonable money I paid for it.
 
Hi-Point C9. Always goes bang, runs every type of ammo from the cheapest, dirtiest steel cased Russian to the hottest +P+ without a problem, accuracy is far above the price you pay. Plus, if you have to beat something with it you couldn't find a better club!:D
 
Sevens, I think you have a good grasp of the "beater" concept. My latest purchase parallels yours: I bought one the CZ75s from Cole Dist. to use as a "beater." The paint is scratched, dinged, and worn, but the gun is still in sound mechanical condition with a nice bore. Ergo, it is fun to shoot, and I'm not going to worry if I happen to drop it in the sand.

Quite frankly, beaters are the most fun to shoot
 
My Glocks, I don't care how they get banged around or end up looking...they're pretty in an ugly sort of way and they always go bang.

Laura
 
I have an old single shot .22 lever rifle that belonged to my FIL before he passed. A little research revealed that it was a Montgomery Ward exclusive back in the 70's. Worth about $50. It's fun to shoot, though, and it was good for teaching my son to shoot, since it made him slow down and shoot each shot separately. I plan to give it to my grandson one day.
 
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My milsurp CZ 82. It resides in my vehicle's glovebox, it shoots as well as my CZ 83, and even though its refinished Czechoslovakian cosmetics are pretty decent, I am not overly worried about marring it
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An awesome beater if ever there was to be sure! They are really just amazingly accurate and fun to shoot, and of course being fabricated from steel, largely forever.
 
G17

I worked a deal with bamaboy to acquire his G17, gen 2, and it goes about everywhere I do these days. Cosmetically its well worn, the kid shot if for a season or two, IDPA, and it was well used before we got it. Don't know what the round count it, but it shoots better than we do, and is reliable.

The Glock finish is surprisingly durable, and I don't worry if I sweat on it for a few days in high summer inside the waistband, and don't wipe it down. Polymer frame,..... seatbelt, door jam, none of the usual ding makers really concern me with the G17.

Conversely, my BHP, which I EDC for a couple of years, looks much worse for wear, and I fussed over it regularly.
 
I guess my best beater gun is a Ruger standard model with a 4" barrel roll marked for the 200th birthday of the US and of course made in 1976.

This shouldn't be a beater gun. But some previous owner let it get get rusted near the front of the receiver and its slightly pitted. Plus some idiot use a center punch and tried to drive out every pin on the gun to take it apart. They even went so far as to pry above the safety window and bent little spots on the frame.

I peened the pry spots back down. They abused the gun but to the Rugers credit they didn't hurt the gun at all except cosmetically. But its a shooter through and through and never jams and hits what its aimed at. I don't worry about adding any damage or rust. It has traveled a long way with me on trails and and the truck.

CajunBass remember when you could find those old hardware store branded shotguns from Savage and Stevens in about any pawn shop for a hundred bucks or so? Hardwood stocks and a single action bar and they always worked. I miss those days.
 
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My beater is a Taurus pt609 the more you mistreat it and don't care about it the better it works, eats anything, better than a Timex.
 
My ultimate beater is a 1952 production Colt 1911A1. My cousin was working for John Ek in Miami, FL in 1974 when some little kid brought it in claiming he had found it while playing in his yard. Apparently his brother had buried it there in 1968. (We ran the number, and it came up clean. No telling what it had been used for, however. It came from one of the less desirable areas of Miami.)

Suffice to say, it was horribly pitted, all the springs were rusted away and the grips were non-existent. I "unfroze" it with muriatic acid, got everything freed up and working again, put new springs in it, a new mag and some grips and lo and behold, it worked. I still have it to this day and it still shoots quite good, surprisingly, considering the amount of pits in the barrel. People have commented that, from a distance it looks like it's been engraved. LOL:D

I forgot to mention: It cost me a whopping $10.00 and has forevermore been known among my friends as "The $10.00 .45."
 
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Mine is a Walther P-1. Don't even know where it came from. It was my father's and I used to shoot it when I was a teen. When he passed it sat in his sock drawer for years and went through 2 floods. Pitted, rusted, and neglected until I moved to Missouri and started living in a free state. (came from New Jersey) I took a wire brush and some WD40 to it, after I bought my first gun, and took it to the range. Shoots every bit as good as the new TriStar T-120 that came to the range with it! Still an accurate soft shooting 9 that feels great in my hand. I probably couldn't sell it, even for parts, and it can be replaced easier than it could be fixed up, so it's a beater. I just don't take it out of the bag if there's anyone in the lane next to me.:o
 
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